Seawater pumped into U.S. warship to keep it stable on reef

By Brad Lendon, CNN

Updated 1252 GMT (2052 HKT) January 28, 2013

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End of the USS Guardian – The stern of the USS Guardian, the last piece of grounded ship, is removed by a crane vessel on Saturday, March 30. The U.S. Navy minesweeper became trapped on a reef off the western Philippine island of Palawan on January 17. The Navy has pledged to clean up debris and restore the reef as much as possible.

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End of the USS Guardian – A crane vessel lifts the bow of the USS Guardian on Tuesday, March 26.

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End of the USS Guardian – The crane vessel pulls the bow off the ship on March 26.

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End of the USS Guardian – The crane vessel removes a hull section on Wednesday, March 27. The U.S. Navy expects the Guardian to be completely removed from Tubbataha Reef by mid-April, an official says.

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End of the USS Guardian – The U.S. Navy and Philippines authorities are working to dismantle the ship.

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End of the USS Guardian – Brandon Berry grinds through steel in the engine room in preparation for removing machinery.

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End of the USS Guardian – The USS Guardian's funnel section is lifted Tuesday, February 26, as a task force works on removing equipment.

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End of the USS Guardian – The USS Guardian rocks in the waves on February 8.

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End of the USS Guardian – The Malaysian tug Vos Apollo removes diesel fuel and human wastewater from the USS Guardian on January 28.

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End of the USS Guardian – Waves crash against the USS Guardian in January. The minesweeper is estimated to have damaged 4,000 square meters of the Tubbataha Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

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End of the USS Guardian – In this undated photo, a U.S. Navy diver moves damage control equipment and other materials to be unloaded from the USS Guardian.

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End of the USS Guardian – The Guardian on the Tubbataha Reef on January 19 in a handout photo from the Philippines military.

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End of the USS Guardian – Anti-riot police disperse protesters in front of the U.S. Embassy in Manila on Friday, January 25. The Filipinos were demonstrating against the grounded U.S. Navy minesweeper and called for the pullout of American troops stationed in the Philippines. They splattered the police with paint.

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End of the USS Guardian – Malaysian tug Vos Apollo, foreground, prepares to help remove fuel from the USS Guardian while a U.S. Navy boat approaches with a salvage team on Thursday, January 24.

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End of the USS Guardian – A U.S. Navy salvage assessment team boards the USS Guardian on Wednesday, January 23, in the Sulu Sea.

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End of the USS Guardian – A member of the Philippines coast guard approaches the USS Guardian on Tuesday, January 22, in a handout picture from the Philippines coast guard.

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End of the USS Guardian – A diver from the Philippines coast guard measures coral damage on the Tubbataha Reef on January 22 in another handout photo. The reef is a Philippines national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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End of the USS Guardian – Student activists scuffle with police in front of the U.S. Embassy in Manila during a January 19 protest condemning the minesweeper's grounding.

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Story highlights

Materials that could endanger Tubbataha reef have been removed from the USS Guardian

Salvage ships with heavy cranes are expected to arrive this week

The minesweeper ran aground on the reef on January 17

The tanks of a U.S. Navy warship stuck on a Philippine reef have been pumped full of seawater to keep the vessel stable while salvage ships make their way to the site of the grounding, officials said Monday.

Navy-led salvage teams have also removed most of the materials from the minesweeper USS Guardian that could pose environmental problems for Tubbataha Reef, a Philippine national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Those materials include paint, solvents and lubricants, according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Manila.

"We continue to place extra scrutiny on removing everything we can to mitigate possible damage to the marine environment," U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Tom Carney, the on-scene commander of the salvage operation, said in a statement.

Dry food stores and the personal effects of the Guardian's crew of 79 have also been removed, the Navy statement said.

The seawater pumped aboard the Guardian should keep it stable until salvage ships with heavy cranes arrive this week to begin the process of lifting the minesweeper off the reef, Balilo said.

Salvage experts have also begun to reinforce the wood-and-fiberglass hull of the minesweeper with Kevlar lines to mitigate stresses from waves hitting the vessel, the U.S. Embassy said.

The $61 million vessel was on its way from Subic Bay, Philippines, to its next port call in Indonesia when it struck the reef, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) east-southeast of Palawan Island in the Sulu Sea, on January 17.

Initial efforts to free the Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship at high tide were unsuccessful. Its crew was evacuated to other vessels, and the ship was battered by waves that pushed it farther onto the reef.

An investigation is under way to determine the cause of the grounding. A Navy spokesman, Lt. Cmdr. James Stockman, said last week that the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which prepares the digital navigation charts used by the Navy, has reported the location of the reef was misplaced on a chart by nine miles.

The Tubbataha Reef is home to a vast array of sea, air and land creatures, as well as sizable lagoons and two coral islands. About 500 species of fish and 350 species of coral can be found there, as can whales, dolphins, sharks, turtles and breeding seabirds, according to UNESCO.

Philippine officials said this week that the Philippines would seek compensation for damage to the reef. About 1,000 square meters (about 10,760 square feet) of the reef have been damaged.